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New Delhi: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that his country is facing “major economic fallout” due to the ongoing war between the US and Iran and asserted that his government will continue its efforts to broker peace between the two warring sides and ease West Asia tensions.

Speaking at a Cabinet meeting here, Sharif said that the ongoing war has dealt a serious blow to the economic progress Pakistan had made over the past two years. He also said that the country is facing additional pressure on the economy due to a sharp spike in its oil import bill that had jumped from $300 million before the conflict to $800 million.

He said a task force is monitoring the situation daily and called for collective efforts to tackle the challenges, according to an official statement.

Notably, the first round of peace talks between the US and Iran was held in Islamabad. The talks failed to yield any breakthrough.

The Pakistan PM, however, said that the talks lasted for 21 hours and marked a significant diplomatic breakthrough. He also said that Pakistan ensured that the negotiations turned out to be successful through coordinated efforts made by Field Marshal Asim Munir, Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, other senior officials. Sharif said that the peace talks led to the ceasefire extension between the two sides.

Pakistan is also planning to host the second round of talks and has requested the two sides to consider the proposal. However, the two sides have not yet responded to the request.

Last week, Trump extended the two-week ceasefire with Iran indefinitely to give Tehran more time for negotiations and to prepare a unified proposal to end the war.

The US and Israel jointly attacked Iran on February 28, killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several top commanders. The war escalated after Islamic Republic retaliated and launched a series of attack targeting the entire Gulf region.